Deal or No Deal
by losthermarbles
Summary: A hospital waiting room leads Zach and Macey into a serious and intense discussion regarding the one person that they both care about the most. One shot. GG5 SPOILERS!


Note: _This is my first fanfiction. I have been reading fanfiction for GG for a few years now but after reading Out of Sight, Out of Time an idea for a one-shot popped into my head and so I decided to try it out. I have no idea if it is any good so I would appreciate your thoughts! This contains major GG5 spoilers in case you didn't read the summary!_

_This one-shot is dedicated to Miss Ally Carter- all credit goes to her!_

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><p>The halls of The Federal Institute of Mental Health were frigid and deserted at one in the morning, and yet Zach could still hear the cries of the patients and smell the stench of Clorox mixed with three-day old hospital food. He wrinkled his nose in disgust. The same thought played in his head over and over.<p>

S_he shouldn't be here._

_ She shouldn't be here._

_ She shouldn't be here. _

Zach could name off quite a few people who should be admitted to this hospital (one of them happened to have the same last name as him) but the girl he had been called from work to see _shouldn't _be there. Not her. Not his Gallagher Girl. He was entirely aware that things had been out of control for the past couple of months, he had been the one living with her, after all. But Zachary Goode refused to believe that this was necessary, no matter what all of the doctors and professionals said.

High school was over as of five years ago. The Circle of Cavan had been eliminated no longer posed a threat. Zach and Cammie and their friends should have been able to lead normal, covert operative lives, but Zach new better. The five of them had seen too much violence and done unspeakable things, all at the young age of seventeen. Whether they liked it or not, those memories would always haunt them. They were forever engraved in the back of Zach's mind, and Cammie's too, obviously. If that were not true then Zach wouldn't be standing in this loony bin at the moment.

As if that weren't bad enough, Cammie's memory was coming back. She was gradually starting to remember that summer that everyone else would like to forget. At first it was just in the nightmares, but then she began having flashbacks. Throughout the day, she would stop dead in her tracks, and just stand there, grimacing while closing her eyes with so much force that Zach thought her eyelids would never be able to open again. It only went downhill from there. Zach moved into Cammie's apartment, but not for the reasons most post-college couples move in together. No, Zach moved in so that there was someone to get the door in the middle of the night when the neighbors came to ask what all of the screaming was about. Every week they had the same argument regarding whether or not Cam should go to work with the risk that she could have a flashback while on the job. Of course, Zach lost the argument every single time due to the fact that Cammie knew just the right words to say to get him to give in. That and she was a really good kisser.

Then Zach got the call.

The call that told him Agent Cameron Morgan had a mission go wrong.

The call that told him the CIA could no longer employ an operative who was mentally unstable.

The call that told him Agent Morgan would need to go through intense rehabilitation before attempting to return to the field.

The call that led him _here._

He had been sitting in the rehabilitation center waiting room for approximately three minutes when he heard the clacking of stilettos come closer and closer as they travelled through the barren hallway. That sound was not unfamiliar and Zach instantly knew exactly who was coming to sit with him.

"Zachary," she said with a curt nod as she took a seat. Zach cringed as he thought of another deserted building and memories from earlier that week flooded back into his mind.

The disgusted look on McHenry's face gave it all away: Zach realized he had some serious explaining to do.

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><p><em> Zachary Goode has some serious explaining to do. <em>That was the one thing on Macey's mind as she sat across from him in the rehab waiting room. Macey hated hospitals. She knew that technically this wasn't a hospital, but with the fluorescent lighting, the awful smells, and the distant screams, it may as well have been one. However the one thing Macey might have hated more than hospitals was Zachary Goode. She never liked him. Even as her friends became closer to him, Macey continued to loath Zach,with his silent arrogance, and cocky smirk. She always tolerated him because for some strange reason he made her best friend happy. After what she witnessed last Tuesday night however, she was no longer willing to stand Zachary Goode's selfish ways. All hell was about to break loose.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" she demanded after thirty-seven seconds of penetrating silence.

"McHenry it's not what it looked like-"

"Anna Fetterman Zach? Really?'

"Macey just let me-"

"No Zach! How could you? I mean I know guys are bad with timing but really?"

Zach looked up at her with tired eyes. "Cam was having nightmares, Macey."

"Well I know that much Zachary, I did room with her for three years of her life. She has been having nightmares ever since she came back from. . ." Macey shuddered. She wished that summer would have never happened. More than anything she just wanted it to go away. But that was beside the point. It was all just beside the point. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Zach's face paled. "Anna is a Psychiatrist." Yet another fact Macey was aware of. After they graduated from Gallagher, Anna got a degree in Psychiatry from Harvard. She now had a small practice inside Langley.

"So you told Anna about all of your problems and then let her shove her tongue down your throat?" Macey questioned, not bothering to disguise the outrage in her voice. "I am not falling for all of this 'she is a shrink' crap. I should have known you were cheating on Cam ever since you spent all of those long extra nights at Langley. Well now it all makes sense. Everyone knows that shrink is code for slut anyways."

"Macey I swear, it was just that one night!"

"Looked like you were enjoying it to me."

"That's bull and you know it, McHenry."

"So why were you seeing Anna at twelve 'o' clock on a Tuesday night then!" Macey shouted exasperatedly.

"Don't make me say it," Zach shook his head and looked down at his shoes.

Macey just glared, daring him with her eyes to admit to someone that he wasn't the strong, emotionless person everyone thought he was. "For once in your life can you tell someone what you're thinking and stop being so damn cryptic?"

Zach took a deep breath. "I needed help, McHenry. I didn't know what else to do. All of Cam's screaming was driving me crazy. I felt like it was entirely my fault and I wanted to know how to help her. That's all."

"What happened with Anna!" Macey demanded with a stomp of her foot.

"She kissed me. We both became very flustered. I left."

"Well to me it looked like you were enjoying locking lips with Fetterman," Macey snapped. She wasn't willing to lose this fight. Macey McHenry didn't lose.

"I was caught off guard- that's all."

"Zachary Goode is never caught off guard!"

"Well 'Zachary Goode' is standing right here and says he was caught off guard," Zach shouted as he bolted up from his chair. "Why can't you just admit that you were wrong about me? For once your internal-boy translator didn't work McHenry, and you can't handle it."

That hurt. The worst part was that Macey knew it was true. Everything Zach said was true. Macey may have had more experience with the opposite sex than her friends, but the reality was it didn't mean she understood them any better. Most importantly, Macey knew that Zach loved Cammie, she could tell by the exhausted and pathetic look on his face. Macey's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a cough coming from her left. It was a nurse. She was dressed in hideous purple scrubs and holding a clipboard in her hand, looking mildly terrified. Macey wondered just how long the she had been standing there.

"The patient is ready for visitors. One at a time please, we don't want to overwhelm her," the nurse explained. Zach lunged towards the doors, but Macey, being as sly as she is, kindly jammed the end of her stiletto heel into Zach's foot, causing him to wince in pain. "I guess it's ladies first then," the nurse sighed and motioned for Macey to follow her.

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><p>Zach's entire body was jittery as he paced the corridors of the waiting room. Not to sound cliché, but it had seriously felt like the longest twenty seven minutes of his life when finally McHenry came waltzing back into the room. "How is she?" Zach demanded. Macey's brow furrowed and she studied him for a moment.<p>

"I give up, Goode." she stated with a shrug of her shoulders. Zach shot her a confused look. "I guess I don't know as much as I thought about men and so there is a teeny-tiny," she paused, holding her fingers an inch apart in illustration, "chance I was wrong about you." Macey forced a laugh. "I really don't know that much about the male species. My own boyfriend collects spiderman paraphernalia for heaven's sake! For whatever reason, I have a feeling you are the glue that is holding Cam together right now, and if she finds out about Anna she might break. From this point on, the memory of what I saw the other night at Langley is vanished from my brain. So I want you to go in there and be the best boyfriend a girl could ask for." Macey stuck out her perfectly manicured hand, wanting to shake in agreement. It took all the strength Zach had to keep his jaw from falling to the floor in awe, but after a few seconds he grabbed her hand firmly and shook it, still in too much shock to say anything.

"Deal," Macey asked, as slight smile forming on her face. "Or no deal?"

"Deal." Zach simply said, and walked out the door.

"Hey Gallagher girl," Zach said minutes later as he entered Cammie's room. Zach had seen Cammie in a fair amount of hospital beds over the course of the seven years he had known her, but never had he seen her look so lost and diminutive. She didn't belong there. Her eyes were ridden with dark circles and her dirty blond hair was sprawled across the pillow inn a frizzy, disheveled-looking wad. Zach was surprised McHenry hadn't had a conniption fit when she saw her.

"Zach," she said weakly. "I thought you were leaving for Mazatlan tonight."

He just shrugged and smiled faintly. "I guess I had better things to do." Zach sat down at the foot of the bed and reached into his pocket. He carefully brought out a small brown package. "You look hungry," he smirked. Cammie grinned.

"I don't think M&Ms are on the approved patient food list."

"Well then they will just have to make an exception," Zach said as he plopped a green M&M into his mouth.

"It's just like senior year, Zach," Cammie started, her lip trembling ever so slightly. "Everyone is afraid of me."

Zach grabbed her hand. "No one is afraid of you."

"I wouldn't be here if they weren't afraid of me," she paused. "I didn't mean to shoot him you know."

"Shoot who?"

"On my last mission, before I was sent here, Eva Alvarez and I were staking out a basement that was supposedly a Columbian mafia site in downtown Baltimore. I was just standing on the street, watching while Eva got a better look inside," Cammie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "All of a sudden I was seventeen again and locked up in that awful stone house. I saw Dr. Steve's face and I shot. But then, just as quickly as it began, I was back in Baltimore and the man who I saw as Dr. Steve was just some pedestrian," Cammie's hands began to shake and her body wracked with sobs. "I shot a pedestrian, Zach. He was an innocent person and I shot him. I'm dangerous." Zach held her for what seemed like an eternity, his shirt becoming drenched in her tears.

"You didn't mean to Cam. You didn't mean to," he reassured. He didn't know what to say. He wasn't accustomed to Cammie being so weak and defenseless. Even throughout the nightmares and the flashbacks, she still retained her strong, stubborn mentality, but this was different. "You don't deserve to be here Gallagher girl, you should be home with me."

Zach stayed there for hours. The nurses came in and told him visiting time was over, but he refused to leave. Cammie slept peacefully in his arms and the last thing he wanted to do was disturb her. Through the window, he watched the sun inch closer and closer to the horizon. It was the only indication that this terrible time might come to an end, and if there was one thing Zach had learned throughout his life, it was that everything comes to an end eventually. As the sun peeked over the hills in the distance, Zach was certain that Cammie would be better someday. In time, new memories would take over old ones and cause them to fade.

Cammie awoke as the morning sunlight poured in through the window. She looked up at Zach and studied him for a moment with a thoughtful look on her face. "I'm not crazy," she whispered.

Zach kissed her forehead. "I know Gallagher girl, I know."

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><p>Note: <em>Ehhh. . . I suck at endings and that was majorly cheesy. I just wanted to use a lot of the themes from GG5 and this was basically my portrayal of what the future might look like. I know it's sad but I tried to end it on a somewhat happy note? Anyhoo, sorry if that was really bad but it was my first fanfiction so I'm just glad I finished it .<em>

_Thoughts?_


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